The Night the Lights Went Out in Lilburn

This would have been a whole lot freakier if had happened tonight than last night, but it was still pretty weird!

At about 10:30 Tuesday night, the image to the right is about what things looked like inside our house. No storms in the area, but the power was out. Usually it comes back on pretty quickly, but pretty quickly we figured that it wasn't coming back on. After grabbing a flashlight, I stuck my head out the front door and the neighborhood looked the same. Total darkness.

After scrounging around for some yellow pages (does anyone keep these around anymore?) we found the number for Georgia Power to report the outage. A friendly, female computerized voice politely told me that there was trouble in our area. An accident nearby had broken a power pole and crews were in route to repair. Well...we couldn't leave it at that, so we packed up the dog, got in the car and started driving around to see if we could find it.

Sure enough, just down the road from our house, two Georgia Power trucks were installing a new power pole. All of the street lights and businesses in the general area where completely dark. It appeared that the accident had already been cleaned up, but we did notice a few broken trees near the pole location.

About an hour later the power did come back and order was restored. So...not as exciting as it could have been, but I've seen too many movies where the power to someone's home gets cut off and some stalker or killer comes busting in. It was pretty crazy to see everything around us in total blackness, though!

Happy Halloween!

(via: Jane)

Japanese "Reality" TV

American "reality" TV consists of sticking strangers together in a house and seeing how they relate to each other and then vote each other out of or off the house/island/whatever. Japanese reality TV, on the other hand, asks and answers important questions like, "If the world record holder for race walking was in life-threatening danger, would he walk or would he run?"

I think you probably already know the answer.

Wisdom Teeth...The Aftermath

Well...we've got some good news and some bad news. I always like to start with the bad news, so...the bad news is that Joy wasn't as wise as we thought she was. The good news is that means she only had to have three wisdom teeth removed instead of four! Yeah...we were pleasantly surprised when the oral surgeon showed us the x-ray and only three of her wisdom teeth had developed. Here's how the morning went...

Here is the patient, pre-op, receiving some moral support from Georgie. I'm pretty sure the kid from Jerry Maguire was right...dogs can smell fear...

On our way to the oral surgeon. One of us is enjoying this ride more than the other. Can you guess which one?

Entering the Door of No Return. Abandon hope all ye who enter here!

Getting educated on the dangers of oral surgery by Dr. Osborne on DVD. Yep...these are just the things Joy wanted to hear before getting anesthetized.

And...just like that, we're done! Three less teeth and a little less wisdom. Joy actually did really well during the procedure. The assistant said that she laughed the whole time, but that they weren't sure if it was the nitrous oxide or just her personality. Of course, I was there for moral support...and pictures.

Not much for walking, Joy wheels out to the car to go home.


And here we are back at home. Joy's mom came to help out.

So...at the end of the day, it wasn't nearly the traumatic experience that Joy was expecting. She's recovering just fine now and seems to be enjoying her diet of soup, smoothies and mashed potatoes. I'm sure she'll be ready for some solid food soon enough. Thanks for all the prayers and support!

Happy Birthday, Mymama!

Today is Mymama's birthday. She turns 73 today. Mymama is not only my Grandma, but she is one of my best friends. I love talking to her on the phone, taking trips with her, and just being with her. She always makes me laugh. Just ask anyone who knows both of us, and they can tell you we are a lot alike.

How Do They Change The Lightbulbs?

This is Zion Baptist Church in Marietta, GA. We (my company) recently completed construction of their new 1,100 seat Sanctuary and Education Building. They had their first service on Easter Sunday this year. I worked on this project for about two years.

The Sanctuary was selected to be featured on a tour of four local churches for the Worship Facilities Conference and Expo that is going on right now. Last night about 50-60 conference attendees came to the church to tour the facility. I represented our company and spoke for about five minutes on some of the details and challenges of the project.

16 months of construction, $8.5 million, 200 tons of structural steel, 2,000 cubic yards of concrete, almost 200,000 bricks and the question most frequently asked last night?

"How do they change the lightbulbs?"

(Click the images for a larger view)

Joy Is Getting A Little Less Wise

In dental terms they are called the third molars, but we know them most commonly as "wisdom teeth." Why wisdom teeth? Apparently because they don't develop and enter the mouth until the teenage or young-adult years when a person is more wise. Well...it would seem that Joy has gotten too wise for her own good, and tomorrow her wisdom teeth are coming out.

Why do wisdom teeth have to be removed? According to those who know, the mouth is too small to accommodate the teeth, so they crowd the more important teeth up front. Of course, if you've ever seen Joy's cell phone bill you know that can't be the problem! (Just kidding, sweetheart)

Anyway, Joy's not too fond of words like "anesthesia" and "surgery," so even if it goes as smoothly as possible it won't be a fun experience for her. Of course, she's got a weekend of milkshakes and smoothies to look forward to. Keep her in your prayers tomorrow...she'll appreciate it!

Second Grade Program

I thought I would post a few pictures from my Second Grade Program last Friday. I teach 1st - 5th graders, and each grade level does one program during the year. I had 120 second graders who performed in the program on Friday. I was very proud of them!

If the space shuttle launches from Florida, and nobody reports on it, did it really happen?

Did you know that earlier this morning the space shuttle Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida?

When I was a kid, space shuttle launches were a BIG deal. School would stop and we would watch the launch in our classrooms on those mobile TV carts. We would look forward to watching the launch for days, and the media covered it like it was the most important event in history. I was in sixth grade when the Challenger launched and exploded. I remember it like it was yesterday.

These days, the space shuttle launches and it barely warrants a mention on the front page of major news websites. You probably won't see it on the 6 o'clock news this evening. I still think its pretty cool to see the shuttle lifting off into space. I guess, though, that we've seen it so many times before that despite the inherent challenges and dangers involved, we just don't appreciate it like we used to. What do you think?

Dogs Behaving Badly

This is our dog Georgie (the white one) and his "cousin" Gigi. For those who haven't met Georgie, yet, he is a 1-year old Toy Poodle. Joy's family gave Georgie to us for Christmas last year. Gigi belongs to Jenny and Blair, and they've had Gigi for a couple of years.

Georgie and Gigi LOVE playing together when we visit, and they really go crazy when they see each other. In the early days, Gigi was much bigger and faster. But as Georgie has grown up, he has outgrown her and gotten...well, lets just say that he's gotten a little more aggressive in his behavior. He's a boy, what can I say? We try to discourage this behavior, but since he's still just a puppy I'm not sure he really understands.

Anyway, all that to say...I pray that THIS never happens to me!

(via: double3)

So Simple, Even a Caveman Can Do It....

The main reason Joy wanted to start a blog is that she felt guilty reading all of our friends' blogs without them being able to read about us. So...now that you're reading our blog (if anybody actually reads it), its time to start one yourself. You know you want to!

Homecoming at Georgia Tech

Saturday afternoon was Homecoming at Georgia Tech. Even though I'm a season ticket holder and go to all the home games anyway, Homecoming is always a lot of fun. This year I actually took Joy into the fraternity house where I lived for a couple of years and ran into a few friends that I haven't seen in a while.

After a sloppy first half, the Jackets came out firing and beat Army 34-10. Even when the team is up-and-down like they have been the last few years, football on the Flats is always a lot of fun. A few photos from our day, including a group of paratroopers who parachuted into the stadium with the American flag before the game. Now if the Falcons can just find a way to actually win this afternoon, it will be a great sports weekend!

Where were you at 6:30 this morning?

Aren't Saturday mornings supposed to be the days that you sleep in, fix pancakes and relax?

Not for Scott. This morning he dragged me out of bed and to Stone Mountain Park to run around the mountain. After about a mile I was wondering if the sun was ever going to come up!

The good news, though, is that I beat him to the finish. Of course...he did 8 miles and I did 5. So, where you at 6:30 this morning?

26 Miles 385 Yards

I've never formalized my list like some people I know, but one of those things on my List of Things to Do While I'm Alive is to run a marathon. I've run the Peachtree Road Race every year but one since 1997 and enjoy running other 5k and 10k races throughout the year. The idea of running 26 miles was always intimidating, and it is just hard to think about going out and just running for 3 or 4 hours. But this year I decided that I was going to mark this one off my list, and I've been training to run the Walt Disney World Marathon on January 13, 2008.

I started Hal Higdon's 18-week training program at the beginning of September and have so far managed to get all my long runs in and survived all of them. My longest so far was a 10-mile run last weekend, so I've still got a ways to go. Most of my running is done on an LA Fitness treadmill early in the morning, but I do my long runs on the 5-mile loop around Stone Mountain.

I don't have any real ambitious goals for running the marathon except that I hope to be able to actually run the whole thing. I'd like to try to finish in under 4.5 hours, but I'll be happy just to finish and collect my medal. I'll probably post a few updates between now and then on my training. Wish me luck!

Going Public

I swore for a long time, despite moderate pressure from some blogging friends of mine, that I would never enter the blogging world, so when Joy started talking about starting a blog I was pretty much opposed to the idea. But...she insisted, and I decided that I just couldn't let her go at it alone. The world of blogs can be a scary place!

So...we're going public.

It is a work in progress, to be sure. Hopefully, it will be a place where we can share just a little bit about what we're doing, post some photos of our adventures, and who knows what else.

So...bookmark the page, add us to your feed reader if you've got one, come back and visit and be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Scott's Petty Drive

Back when we got married, Joy gave me a Gift Certificate for a day at the Petty Driving Experience. After having to postpone one time so that I could learn to drive a manual transmission, I finally got to go drive down at Atlanta Motor Speedway this past May. Here's a slide show of photos and video from the day...

St. Simons Community Church

St. Simons Community Church has been one of Scott's main projects this year. They should be finished with the church sometime around the end of the year. These are pictures from Scott's trip down to St. Simons last week.

Trip to Highlands

Scott & I drove up to Highlands, NC on Saturday. Jenny & Blair were up there for the weekend with some friends, so we spent the day with them. We even took Georgie. We had a lot of fun!

Jenny & I had fun shopping, and Georgie & Gigi had fun walking around Highlands.

Blair & Scott waited patiently while Jenny & I shopped.

Happy Birthday Georgie!

Georgie celebrated his first birthday yesterday.